


we are too busy dancing to get knocked off our feet

by littleghost



Series: the tarot cards say it's not so bad [3]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 22:40:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6445132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleghost/pseuds/littleghost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>“You saved me fifteen bucks and some gift cards, so how about I treat you to dinner?” Magnus says, smiling. It takes Alec a moment to respond, but he nods his head.</i> // Or: Alec saves Magnus from a maybe-teenage-mugger and he tries to remember how dating works.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we are too busy dancing to get knocked off our feet

**Author's Note:**

> past alec/hodge is a bit abusive and alec talks about but doesn't go into detial. there's also a scene were alec is confronted by hodge and he is very uncomfortable. max has a bit of a drug problem but there's nothing explicit. mature for a handjob-ish scene close to the end
> 
> end notes for the tarot card meanings

_i. the lovers_

 

Alec is half-certain that there will be a sock on the door of his dorm. He’s not disappointed when he reaches the landing of the sixth floor from the stairs, and sees a gross sock stuck on the doorknob.

He’s not prone to rash decisions, because just about everything Alec does is well-thought out. Izzy says that’s what makes him boring, but it’s also what makes him the guy with the 3.8 GPA in his senior year of college. Rash decisions are not his thing, but he’s walked up six flights of stairs and he’s not going to walk back down them with a bag filled with twenty pounds of paper. He’s not.

It’s honestly understandable when he he throws the door open, already averting his eyes when he steps in.

“Bro!” The annoying voice of Brett, his dorm mate, is dripping with betrayal. There’s shuffling of sheets and Alec finally looks at the bed. A blonde girl is holding the silky, black sheets of Brett’s bed to her chest, an affronted look on her face. However, he gets the full view of Brett’s dick, for probably the tenth time this week.

“Brett, dude, I don’t care about the Bro Code because I just walked up six flights of stairs to see I’ve been sexiled. It’s the twenty-first century man, and you have an iPhone in rose gold. Fucking text, man.” The girl snickers when Alec mentions the color of Brett’s phone, who colors slightly.

“There’s a Bro Code for a reason!” Brett whisper-yells, and the girl just rolls her eyes.

“God, I remember why I don’t sleep with finance bros,” she said. She drops the sheet as she climbs out of the bed, and Alec is a fucking gentleman and averts his eyes again. Brett just wolf-whistles, like he’s back in sixth grade. “Thanks for stopping me from fucking Stupid,” she tells Alec as she passed him, and Brett makes a noise, like he should be offended.

“Thanks, bro,” Brett says, reclining back to sulk in his ridiculous black sheets. Alec ignores him and drops his bag on the floor, and it makes a _thunk_ noise so loud the stoners ten rooms away probably heard it. He drags the massive four-inch binder that houses most of his history work and opens it up, dead set on revising even as Brett begins to play Eminem behind him.

 

It’s well past seven when Alec realizes he hasn’t eaten and that the cafeteria closed down already. Cursing, he shuffles papers around until he finds his wallet and keys, hidden under a mound of papers that detail the life of Thomas Jefferson. That dick.

He slams the door behind him on the way out, because Brett is also a dick but Brett will be up the entire night if he naps in the afternoon. The hall is empty except for the RA, who skirts around Alec. Their RA is the worst RA ever, because he sits with the stoners and does nothing about the fucking idiot who broke three of the five showerheads. Alec yelled at him about it, and the dude offered him the position, which he would have taken except he remembers how much he hates dealing with the idiots on his hall.

Taki’s Diner is the only place he wants to go to, and he sighs as he prepares himself for the six-block walk to the diner. He doesn’t mind it, but he does mind the fact that six blocks is far enough for something bad to happen.

Six blocks isn’t as long as it takes, because in an alley on the second block are the silhouettes of two figures. If they were farther in, Alec would have ignored them, but they were only a few feet from the opening and it was obvious one was getting mugged. Which, New York, happens all the time, happened to Alec when he was fourteen, but he has some hero problem or something.

So he plays the hero.

Which is the third stupid thing he’s done that day, the first being not checking his email because his 2 p.m. was cancelled, which led to his meeting of Brett’s latest not-conquest, and the second being forgetting the time so he had to walk. But as Alec gets closer, he realizes that both are shorter than him, and the mugger is not very built. Which Alec is.

“Drop the knife, stupid,” Alec says, hands still shoved into the pockets of his jeans. The mugger has the voice of a teenager when he replies, “Don’t think I will.”

Alec sighs, recounts on why he thought this was a good idea, and moves closer. The maybe-teenage-mugger moves his arm, like he’s about to stab Alec with the knife, but that plan is foiled when Alec grabs the wrist holding the knife and squeezes on a pressure point.

The knife drops and the mugger runs. He’s smarter than Alec thought, but his attention is turned the the one who was getting mugged.

“Oh, thank God,” the guy is saying, “I had a gift card to McDonald’s I did not want to give up.” His head was bowed as he shoved his wallet back into his back pocket, but when he looks up Alec’s breath catches in his throat. “Fucker took a ring,” he continues cheerfully, “though it was plastic.” Alec is still kind of caught on his looks, Asian with a weird yellowish eye color.

“Wouldn’t want to miss out on that fine dining,” Alec deadpans after a moment, and the guy laughs.

“I’m Magnus Bane. And my magnificent hero is called?”

“Alec Lightwood,” he says, and takes Magnus’s hand when it’s offered. The hand is warm against his own, and feels smooth against his callouses.

“You saved me fifteen bucks and some gift cards, so how about I treat you to dinner?” Magnus says, smiling. It takes Alec a moment to respond, but he nods his head.

“Alright, lead the way,” he replies, deciding that he can spot Magnus if it goes over whatever limit fifteen dollars and some giftcards set.

The way leads to Taki's Diner, which Alec is half-surprised and half grateful at. “I was coming here to eat anyways,” Alec says. Magnus smiles at him, and grabs two menus from the hostess who recognizes both. He sits at a booth in the back and Alec sits across from him, opening his menu even though he knows he’s not going to look at it.

He instead looks at Magnus, being able to see him better in the soft lighting of Taki’s than the dim light in that alley. Magnus’ hair is gelled, the ends purple, and when he leans forward strands fall into his eyes. His eyes are lined but smudged at the edges, and there are piercings lining his ear. Magnus reaches up to tug at one, and Alec feels the urge to tug at his own plugs.

Thank God he squashes it down, like the mature twenty-three-year-old guy he is.

When the waitress comes Alec recognizes her as Kaelie, a girl that Jace used to date. She smiles when she sees Alec and says, “The regular, Alec?” Her pen is poised above the notepad, like she actually expects him to order anything different than he had for the past three years.

“Of course,” Alec replies, because he’s ordered the same thing or the past three years and he's not gonna change just because he met a really cute boy.

When Kaelie turns to Magnus, he orders fish ‘n’ chips, and a Coke. There’s a moment of silence after she leaves before Alec asks Magnus, “So, getting mugged?”

Magnus flushes lightly, replying hotly, “He had a knife! And in my defense, this is a brand new, slightly expensive jacket! Gotta protect your assets, man.” Alec laughs, but the jacket Magnus is wearing does look new.

“Fair,” Alec replies. Then, “So what do you do?” because he is an awkward fucker but also he wants to know.

“I’m a photographer-slash-stylist for a fashion mag but I also do magic.” The last part is a smooth segue into making a tarot card appear, the lovers. Alec is suitably impressed.

“Amazing,” because it is, though he’s seen street artists make bigger things appear. Magnus grins, and asks, “Do you want a reading?”

Alec is sort of intrigued, but he’s been dragged to four different psychics by Izzy and he’s very tired of people holding his hand. He wouldn’t mind if Magnus held his hand, but, “Nah, I’m good.”

Magnus grins at him, and conversation comes easy.

 

_ii. death (reversed)_

 

Alec has just enough awareness to text everyone in his contact list _midterms are over im gonna sleep for ten days dont u dare talk to me_ before passing out.

Of course, because everyone Alec has ever met in his entire life and liked enough to put in his phone has never followed directions, he wakes up to thirty unread messages 16 hours later. Most are from Jace, and he knows that all of them are probably just stupid emojis so he doesn’t bother replying. Izzy texted him a series of exclamation marks, but he has no idea what they’re in reference to.

Magnus texted him, though, and that makes Alec’s heart stutter just a bit. _wanna go for drinks when ur up?_ he gets asked, and Alec’s fingers are shaking enough that he has to rewrite _yeah, sure_ five times.

He then looks at the time and realizes that it’s nine and that Magnus probably has better things to do. Brett’s snoring comes from the bed bedside his and Alec sighs, pulling the pillow over his head and trying to go back to sleep.

He gives up five minutes later, because his Target pillow, while very soft, is not designed to block out Brett Jones’s snoring. His phone rings within the next few seconds, so it wouldn’t have done him any good to go to sleep anyways.

“Big bro!” Izzy greets him like she has for the past ten years. Alec can practically hear the grin in her voice, and it makes him smile in turn.

“Izzy,” he greets, because he is three years older and obviously the adult in their siblingship. Pretending to be an adult probably would work better if he didn’t call her the nickname he gave her when he was three and Isabelle was too big a word for the potato in his mom’s arms.

“First, congrats on not dying,” she says, “and two, Magnus Bane?”

“Yeah, what about him?” Alec replies, which was probably the worst thing he could have said because Izzy let out a very loud, very girlish squeal.

“‘So what’?” She parrots. “So he’s probably the best stylist Camille Belcourt has ever hired in her entire life!” She yells at him, and that’s when Alec makes the connection.

“He’s the guy that’s finally made you stop talking about Clary?” He asks, and he can imagine the way Izzy’s cheeks turn red.

“No–I mean, yes, fine, but the point is Magnus Bane is amazing! Like, I’d be so into him if I weren’t with Clary and if he wasn’t interested in you,” she tells him, and Alec lets out a breathy laugh.

“He likes me?” He asks, and she makes a _tut_ noise.

“God, of course! You rescued him from a mugger with a knife! Alec, you’re his knight in shining armor and he hasn’t shut up since!”

It’s at that moment that Alec’s phone vibrates with a message from Magnus, and Alec panics. “Shit, that’s him! He invited me out for drinks and I said yes—God, what do I do?”

Izzy laughs from the other end and says, “Give him a chance. He’s nothing like Hodge, okay?” At the mention of Alec’s last boyfriend, both siblings make the same noise of disgust.

“Alright, okay. I can do this.” Alec is mostly muttering to himself, but Izzy hears and laughs.

“I’ll let you go. Love you!” She says, and waits for Alec to respond with his his own _love you_ before hanging up.

Alec gives himself a moment to regroup, replaying his conversation with Izzy. When he gets over the fact that yes, Magnus likes him, he finally looks at the text. _drinks at la porte viola? y/n?_ There’s a moment as Alec thumbs hover over the _n_ and the _y_ , before he finally types out _yes. blue door now?_

There’s a few minutes before Magnus responds, during which Alec’s heart because to hammer against his ribcage and his brain begins analyzing his text. Finally Magnus responds with _you never cease to amaze me. tonight at 7?_

 _see you then_ Alec messages back, and he can finally turn onto his side and fall asleep.

 

La Porte Viola is a stupid club that Alec got dragged to by Brett at the beginning of the year. The door is actually blue, and it’s never the color that the name describes, which changes every three months though it’s always in the same location: nestled in an alley between an alt record store and an alt clothing store.

“You’ll fit right in!” Brett told him, because Alec never went to clubs without his leather jacket. He did not, actually, fit in until he left his jacket in a closet and wore only his tank top. Everyone was all over him, and Alec suddenly found the appeal of clubs with such bad lighting you couldn’t see who was grinding against your ass.

Alec goes into the club when he gets there, because he doesn’t know if Magnus is already there and also because there are frat bros obviously looking for a purple door. None of them seem to consider the blue door that lets the sound of heavy bass escape when opened

He finds Magnus at bar, and gives himself a moment to appreciate the other’s clothing. Magnus is wearing skinny jeans that led to heeled boots, and his tight shirt revealed hidden muscles. Alec slides in beside him at the bar and ordered a Coke.

“Alec!” Magnus says when he recognizes Alec. The bartender sets an unopened can of Coke in front of him and Magnus nods towards it. “Not a drinker?”

“Not usually,” Alec replies, and finds himself jostled by the people at his back, and he has to place a hand on the small of Magnus' back to steady himself. Magnus looks too pleased at the way they're standing, Alec looking down at him, their arms brushing.

Magnus grabs his hand, says, "Let's dance," and drags him onto the dancefloor. There isn't any space between any of the other gyrating bodies, and Alec finds himself holding onto Magnus's hips as the other sways in front of him, arms wrapped around his neck. Their lips are just a hair apart, and that's when Alec's phone vibrates.

He would have ignored it, except he set everyone's number to silent but Max's. And Max never texted him unless it was an emergency.

Alec bends down so his lips are beside Magnus' ear and whispers, "Excuse me." He finds his way back to the bar, where he's able to pull his phone out of his jeans. There is a text from Max, a _sos @ sebs pls get me._

Alec curses loud enough that he's sure everyone in the general vicinity heard him. Looking at the dance floor, he tries to see if he can find Magnus, but he can't see him. Sighing, he texts Magnus's phone about a family emergency and leaves.

Seb is the dick that got Max in rehab. Max got clean and was clean for five months before Seb came back into his life and fucked it all over. And no one knows but Alec, which. Sucks to be the most trustworthy sibling. (Not that Izzy isn’t, but gossip spreads, and Jace has a hero thing too.)

Seb also lives in Queens, and Alec would much rather shell out the cab fare than take the subway. He spends three minutes trying to catch a cab, during which his thoughts range from Max's wellbeing to how Magnus will react when he learns Alec ran out on him.

The entire drive is spent in that same vein, but when he gets to Seb's house, he sets his face in a scowl and marches up to the front door. Seb himself opens the door, a lazy smile on his face and his white-blond hair turned into fire by the strobe lights behind him.

"Where's Max?" He asks through gritted teeth, and the dick only laughs as he points toward a figure on the couch. It's Max, passed out, and Alec curses as he feels for Max's pulse before picking him up and slinging him over one shoulder.

"Stop fucking with my brother," Alec says on the way out, but Seb is high and too blissed out to do anything but close the door. He tried to call the cops once, but Seb's dad always had New York's finest under his thumb.

The cabbie sends concerned looks towards his passengers when Alec situates himself, Max's head cushioned by his lap, but gets to driving when given the address of Izzy's flat. It's not a long drive, but Alec had his finger pressed to Max's neck and measured time using the steady beats of his brother's heart.

His phone lights up as he's placing Max on the bed in the spare bedroom. It's Magnus, who texted _sorry :(_ at him and Alec sighs as he locks the screen and places his phone into his pocket.

 

_iii. ten of wands_

 

The morning after Alec brought Max to her flat, they had a very angry conversation about Max until they heard the noises of him retching nothing into the toilet and rushed to his aid. Both ended up having to hide Max as he goes through yet another detox, but their parents wanted updates and a family dinner, so they couldn’t hide it for forever.

Max is still twitchy when they arrive Sunday, but it’s almost normal for him. Their mom’s mouth twisted when she first saw the trio, but as the dinner progressed and Max’s answers were relatively okay, the tension in her shoulders gradually escaped. Their dad barely noticed anything, and just kept talking.

“How’re your classes going, Alec?” Maryse asks him. The fact that Alec is the only one of her college-age kids to actually go to college is a sore spot for her. She always has a thinly veiled look of disgust when Izzy talks about how her modelling is going at _Belcourt Couture_.

“Good. Professor Ragnor was very impressed by my essay on the Salem Witch Trials.” Ragnor had actually wanted to talk about how Alec got his especially obscure primary sources from the women who survived trials, but it all boiled down to the same thing.

“That’s great, Alec,” Robert says, and then, “meet anyone new lately?”

He was going to say no when Izzy piped up. “Yeah, he saved a guy from getting mugged last week.” Their parents’ faces immediately blanked.

Maryse said, carefully, “Are you sure that’s a good idea? After Hodge I thought you were done experimenting.” Alec flinches at her words and Izzy comes to his defense.

“God, Mom, he likes _boys._ It wasn’t just a ‘phase’,” she all but spits out, and Alec can feel himself closing up.

That’s when Max drops his fork onto his porcelain plate and it makes a loud clatter that draws all eyes to him. “I’m gonna be sick,” he said, standing up and rushing to the bathroom. Alec follows him, because he’s become an expert at helping Max through detoxes. Vomit is a regular.

He locks the door behind him when they reach the bathroom, and Max curls up into the bathtub, facing the toilet. Alec sits down beside the tub and stretches his legs in front of him, sighing as he leans his head against the tiled walls.

“Who’s the guy,” Max asks after he retches nothing into the bowl for the third time, and Alec is quick to distract him. He talks about how he saved Magnus, embellishing it like it’s a bedtime story for Max, who grew out those when he was eight almost eleven years ago. He talks about their stupid phone conversations, in which they’re almost always playing phone tag because of Alec’s classes and revision schedules and midterms, and because Magnus works odd hours at the magazine. He talks about their date, but leaves out the part where he had to leave early because of Max. His brother looks guilty enough as it is, because Alec always stays with him when he’s like this.

By the end of it, Max looks better, his head balanced on his knees, looking at Alec. It makes something in his chest fall loose, the way his brother looks almost as vulnerable as he did after he almost OD’d. Alec has to close his eyes and remember he’s in the present, and not two years ago, looking at the skeleton of his brother.

Finally, Max mumbles out a “sorry” and Alec tells him not to worry. He easily picks his brother up and carries him to his room, tucking him in like he did when he was twelve and Max was seven and their parents still worked late into the night.

Izzy is waiting for him in his old room, staring pensively into a closet that’s filled with relics of high school, dark clothing and a picture collage hidden behind hanging dress shirts. The collage is filled with pictures of Alec, Izzy, Jace, and Max when they were all younger. Someone is smiling in every picture, and someone is never aware that a picture is being taken.

“I miss these days,” she says, reaching out to touch a picture of her and Alec at Disneyland, wearing mouse ears and laughing.

“I do, too,” he admits, and wraps an arm around her shoulders and pulls her into him. She falls against his side and turns her face into his chest. He drops a kiss on her forehead.

 

Izzy drops Alec back off at his dorm in the morning, and he opens the door to find Brett snoring loudly and a girl trying to sneak out. She flushes and he just sighs and averts his eyes while she tries to find her clothes. Brett obviously took advantage of his absence.

He falls on his bed and looks at the unread messages on his phone. He still hadn’t replied to Magnus, but when he taps on the conversation, anything he was thinking about saying disappears. He sighs and locks the phone, dropping it beside his head. This was the first time he had to worry about what he was going to say to the person he liked. Hodge was always brusque in his texts and made it so it was never imperative Alec had to reply. He’s text things like _my place at 6_ or _grab more lube on your way over._

Magnus is different, and the similarities between him and Hodge are almost zero. Magnus is someone Alec isn’t worried about impressing, whereas with Hodge he was always trying to gain some praise or even acknowledgement. Magnus is someone Alec has already impressed, someone he wants to do the normal thing with, wants to date before fucking.

He picks up his phone again and stares at Magnus’ _sorry :(._ He’s sent Alec a selfie during the week and it’s his contact picture, a tiny box beside the message showing a smiling Magnus. Alec sighs and sends back _sorry for not replying earlier. makeup date later this week?_ He stares at the message like it’ll make Magnus reply any faster, and by the time the phone’s display goes dark he has a dark shadow in his eye.

Course work doesn’t let up just because midterms are over, and after sulking in his bed for another ten minutes he cracks open his history book and reads about the baby boom.

 

It’s almost three hours later when Magnus replies by calling, and Alec is too absorbed by his work to check the screen before answering. “Hello?” He says around a yawn. The person on the other end chuckles.

“Alec, it’s only eleven, how can you be tired already?” Magnus asks. Alec wants to say something about babysitting and little brothers and vomit, but his brain short circuits when he realizes that it’s Magnus.

“Oh, hi,” he says, like he hadn’t opened with _hi_.

“Hello, Alec,” Magnus replies. “So, about that date,” he says without any segue.

“Yeah, I’m free all this weekend? And I don’t have a class Wednesday, thank fuck,” he says, and Magnus laughs.

“Wednesday I have an oh-so-important shoot, which Camille has been up both mine and your lovely sister’s ass about.”

“Was lovely modifying ‘sister’ or ‘ass’,” Alec says without thinking. His cheeks immediately flush. Magnus only laughs again before replying with the former.

“However, Saturday is probably good. How about Acre at 7?” Magnus continues, and Alec’s mouth dries at the mention of Acre.

Acre is a ridiculously expensive restaurant, and reservations have to be made months in advance. It even has a VIP section, where A-listers come to eat.

“You have reservations?” He asks, because _Belcourt Couture_ is fairly popular, but he didn’t think Magnus was affluent enough to get short-term reservations at such a high-end place.

“No, but I will if you say yes,” Magnus replies, and Alec says yes. The idea of eating at Acre is almost as good as the idea as going on a date with Magnus for real.

“I’ll see you there,” he says, and hangs up. Alec stares at his phone for a few minutes before slowly dialing Izzy.

When she picks up, Alec quickly says, “I’m going to Acre this Saturday with Magnus please help.”

Izzy only laughs for a few minutes before hanging up on him. He stares at his phone with shock before texting her _u r so rude and to think that i helped u get w/ clary!!_

 _ur a fucking dork_ is her reply and Alec responds with a row of sadfaces.

 

_iv. six of cups_

 

The fact that Alec sees Hodge before his date with Magnus is probably the universe laughing at him. He’s obviously done something to tip the scales and he’s trying to figure out what he did the past week when Hodge approaches him.

Hodge is three inches shorter than Alec, but there’s something in his disposition that will always make him feel taller than Alec. He stops in front of Alec, an infuriating smirk on his lips, and says, “Alec. Such a surprise to see you here.”

Here is the corner store five minutes away from his dorm and fifteen away from Hodge's apartment. It’s not a coincidence, because Hodge does everything deliberately.

“Starkweather,” Alec acknowledges, because he doesn’t want the man to know how much their less-than-amicable breakup fucked him over. But by the way Hodge’s smirk grows, it’s obvious.

“Lightwood,” he parrots. “Are you just going to pretend that we’re casual acquaintances? Because there’s a lot of casual things about us but that’s not one.” Alec’s jaw tightens and he has to clench his fist around the handles of his basket so they don’t tremble. He stuffs the other in his jean pocket and Hodge tracks the movement.

“What, is being near me too much?” He steps closer and Alec wants to step back, but he’s trying to hold his ground, to stop giving everything to Hodge.

“Being near you is enough to make me throw up,” Alec says, and it’s the truth. Hodge only laughs and reaches out a hand to adjust the collar of his jacket.

“This always looks so good on you,” he says, stepping back. “See you around, Alec,” he calls over his shoulder as he walks away. Alec watches him go then sags against the shelves holding all the junk food.

He fumbles for his phone in his pocket, calling his most recent call because he remembers talking to Izzy about what to wear. He’s already talking by the time the call connects, and he’s saying, “Fuck, Izzy, I saw him again and he talked to me and—fuck, it’s been two damn years and he’s still messing with me.”

There’s silence for a moment and he’s about to check if the call did connect when Magnus says, “Alec?”

He almost drops his phone, and when he presses it to his ear he says, “Oh, hi Magnus. I thought I was calling Izzy.”

“I could tell,” comes the reply, and then, “I assume you’re talking about an ex?”

“Yeah, bad breakup.” Magnus hums and there’s silence for a moment.

Alec says “I should call Izzy” the same time as Magnus says “Are you okay for tomorrow night?” And Alec is stunned into silence again.

“No, no, I’ll be there, it’s just—I would really like to see you tomorrow night,” Alec says, and he can practically see Magnus smiling into the phone.

“Good, I really want to see you tomorrow night, too,” he says, and Alec smiles. “I’ll let you call Isabelle. See you tomorrow,” he says before hanging up.

Alec looks at the flashing timestamp before it goes to the home screen. He no longer feels like he needs to call Izzy, and he keeps the smile on his face all the way back to his dorm. (Brett making out with a sorority girl on _Alec’s_ bed is what makes it go away.)

 

Izzy recommended a charcoal button down with his darkest jeans for Acre, and that’s what he’s wearing as he approaches the maître d. “Reservation for Bane?” He asks, and the man looks over him before replying, “Mr. Lightwood? Follow me.”

He’s flustered that the man knew his name, and he follows blindly as the man smoothly walks between tables and around waitstaff. Magnus is sitting at a table in a rather secluded area, and his wine glass is filled with wine but he doesn’t look like he drank any of it.

“Glad that you could make it,” Magnus says as Alec sits down, and he colors slightly.

“I said that I would, didn’t I?” He replies, and Magnus grins.

“You did,” he concurs, and motions for a waiter to come over.

“Yes, Mr. Bane?” The waiter says, and Magnus gestured towards Alec, who orders water.

“You don’t drink, do you?” Magnus asks.

Alec trains his eyes on the bridge of Magnus’ nose and says, “Yeah, I made some stupid decisions when drunk and Max didn’t need someone who drank around him.”

“Is Max your family emergency?” Magnus questions and Alec nods, but doesn’t give any more information.

Magnus orders sea urchin pappardelle when the waiter comes back and Alec gets scallop sashimi. Their conversation floats from topic to topic before finally ending up in the place Alec expected it to go.

“So, who’s the ex that made you call Isabelle in near-panic,” Magnus asks, and Alec is quiet for a moment.

Sighing, he begins. “Hodge was my second guy. Not really a boyfriend, but it was exclusive for me while it probably wasn’t for him. I met him at the bar, and he was great, really, and we fucked for a while, never really going out together unless you count clubs. He was really possessive despite not being exclusive; he would give me noticeable hickeys, always wanted to know where I was, tried to micromanage me. I ended it after a couple of months because stuff with Max happened and I really wasn’t able to deal with both at the same time.

“He got angry about it, and confronted me on my way home once. I took kickboxing but so did he, but we were evenly matched. Some girl called the cops, but I had bruises for a week. Couldn’t press charges, because I fought back and no one knew who started it.” Alec ends by looking at his lap. He explained the bare minimum, because he didn’t want to go into how being with Hodge felt like he was a prisoner, because he didn’t want to talk about how he had to go to Isabelle for tips on how to cover hickeys and end up covering bruises on his wrists, because he didn’t want to tell Magnus how Hodge was more than possessive.

Magnus doesn’t say anything for awhile, and Alec is beginning to fidget when he says, “I’d say I’m sorry but I don’t think it would help. I will say that I wished you could’ve pressed charges.” When Alec looks up there’s a gentle smile on Magnus’ face, and something in his chest slips loose.

“Thanks,” he mumbles. “For listening. Now and yesterday,” he clarifies.

“Anytime,” Magnus replies, and conversation falls into a lull as their food arrives.

Magnus picks up the bill and Alec doesn’t even feel bad, just laughs as he pulls Magnus into a kiss before climbing into a cab.

 

Izzy demanded to know what happened when he got back, and Alec indulges her because he wants to tell someone. He ends up going to the dorm roof because Brett is their room, cuddling a sleeping girl to his chest.

“Alec!” Izzy says as soon as she picks up. “What happened? Did it go well? Did you kiss? Did he try to take you home and you refused because you’re trying to play hard to get?”

He laughs at first before actually replying. “It was great, Izzy. The food was great, there wasn’t any awkward silences, and I told him about Hodge.”

It takes her a minute to respond. “What, why?” He tells her about the incident at the corner store are she says, “God, I hate that bastard. I’m gonna take his class and beat him up in sparring,” and Alec can vision Izzy beating Hodge down.

“You did learn from the best,” he teases, because Alec taught her when she was in high school when Maryse refused to let her get lessons.

“I did,” she agrees, before asking, “but did you kiss?”

“Yeah, I kissed him before getting into the cab.”

She laughs and says, “So you _are_ playing hard to get!”

“I guess.” There’s silent for a moment before Izzy responds.

“I’m glad you found him, big bro.”

“Yeah, me too,” he says before hanging up so she can’t tell him how fucking sappy he is.

 

_v. the world (reversed)_

 

Alec decides, the third time he finds Brett sleeping with another girl in his bed, that he and Brett should start making a calendar of all the times Alec will be away. He never truly acts on it, because his schedule is just as erratic as his dorm mate’s, but his boyfriend luckily has his own apartment.

A very amazing apartment with a lovely view of the eastern skyline in the livingroom, and Alec is a morning person who likes looking at the sunrise. Magnus usually drags himself out of bed a long time after dawn, and groggily sips at the coffee Alec brewed as he stumbles around his apartment.

Mornings are Alec’s favorite time of the day, and he sits next to Magnus on a very soft couch, their shoulders pressed together as Alec reads about Generation X and Magnus works on something to do with _Belcourt Couture._

His eyes are growing heavy as he gets into the Vietnam War, and he closes his book with a heavy noise. Magnus looks at him from where he’s writing notes in the margin of a paper, but puts his work down too.

“Let’s do something fun,” Alec says, and presses a bruising kiss to Magnus’ lips.

“Like what,” Magnus murmurs when they break away, and Alec grins against his lips.

“I have a few ideas,” he says, and pulls Magnus into the bedroom.

Clothes are shed on the way there, and Alec laughs as Magnus gets stuck in his shirt. He helps Magnus out of it, but his lips are sucking marks into collarbones when Magnus’s head gets free.

“Shit,” Magnus says, and falls back onto the bed and Alec goes on top of him. Their boxers are still on and he takes a moment to lean back and look at Magnus, chest flushed and heaving, his cock straining against his briefs. He grins and pulls the garment down his hips, the waistband catching on the head and Magnus makes a keening noise.

“You’re beautiful,” Alec says as he pushes his own briefs down and rolls down so they’re flushed together, legs and hips and chests and mouths touching. He reaches for the bottle of lube sitting brazenly on the nightstand and pours some on his hand, all the while undulating his hips so Magnus lets out little moans.

He cants his hips so he can get a hand between them and grabs both of their cocks in one hand. “You know what they say about big hands,” Magnus mumbles from behind the arm he threw to cover his mouth. Alec laughs against his neck and begins to slowly jerk both of them while sucking a bruise into the joint of Magnus’s jaw.

Magnus is moaning and keeps thrusting into Alec’s hand, and the friction causes Alec to choke out moans into Magnus’s neck. He keeps the pace steady and almost torturously slow, and Magnus keeps making little comments on how Alec should _go faster, oh, my God_ and that _holy shit, you’re so good at this how’d you get so good?_ Alec grins into Magnus’s neck and keeps going slow.

Magnus comes anyways, spilling onto his stomach and whining out Alec’s name. Alec follows a little while later, and pushes himself up so he can look at Magnus, who looks absolutely wrecked. Bruises are showing on his neck and there’s a large hickey on his collarbone. Magnus opens his eyes and sees Alec smiling down at him, and he can’t help smiling in turn.

He still complains about the mess, and reaches over to the nightstand to grab the box of tissues, but miscalculates and knocks the lamp over instead. It goes down with a loud noise and Alec has to muffle his laughter into Magnus’s neck, who says, “ _Shit._ ”

 

Alec gets an order from his mom to come to dinner on Sunday, and he panics about it for a day until he tells Magnus.

“So my mom wants me to come to dinner Sunday. Do you want to join?” They’re eating dinner while watching a fashion show, and Magnus is so surprised he doesn’t shout his usual exclamation of victory when the designer that he said would get cut was cut.

“Dinner? With you family?”

Alec immediately begins to backtrack, saying, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to but we’ve been dating for a month and—”

Magnus cuts him off by gently pressing a kiss to the corner of his lips. “I’d love to go to dinner with your family.” Alec grins brightly at him, and Magnus keeps kissing him, the show forgotten.

On Sunday night, Alec is the nervous one. As they’re walking up the steps of his parents townhouse, he warns Magnus, “My mom might say some… stuff.”

Magnus opens his mouth, probably to ask what kind of stuff, but the door opens and Max is beaming up at his brother. “Max!” Alec says, surprised. “I didn’t know you were coming!”

“Dad found me an outpatient program on the condition that I live here,” Max says. “We just agreed on it yesterday, so. I was going to tell you tonight. Oh, who’s this?” He looks at Magnus for the last part, who looks stricken.

“This is Magnus, my boyfriend,” Alec announces without a quaver in his voice and he feels ridiculously proud of himself. Max smiles and introduces himself before walking into the house.

Alec can hear pots banging in the kitchen, along with the sounds of Izzy arguing about the menu. His dad is sitting in the recliner in front of the TV, CNN playing without volume or closed captioning. “Hey, Dad,” he says, and his dad looks up.

“Alec! You’re early!” He says, and takes Alec’s mumbled “not much traffic”. He then turns to Magnus. “I’m Robert Lightwood. You are?”

“Magnus Bane,” he says, and shakes his dad's hand. Alec can tell that it’s the politician shake, because Robert always squeezes too tightly the first time around. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Lightwood.

“Alec!” Comes Izzy’s excited voice, and he looks away in time to grab Izzy before she jumps on his back.

“Izzy,” he says laughing, “I just saw you a week ago. It’s not like I’ve been gone for months.”

“Feels like it,” she mumbles into his neck, and he curls a hand around her neck, holding her to him for just a second. He hadn’t called anyone in the past week, his only interactions being with Magnus, Brett, and his professors after turning in his exam.

“Alec, come help me make the sauce,” Maryse calls from the kitchen, and Alec mouths _sorry_ at Magnus as he walks away. He knows Magnus is probably going to be subjected to an interrogation from Dad, but Izzy is there so it would be too bad.

In the kitchen, Maryse is stirring a pot of the already-made sauce, so he knows this is his own personal questioning. “Who did you bring?” She asked, looking past him and into the living room.

“Magnus, my boyfriend,” he replies carefully. She keeps her face carefully blank but he notices the way her hand clenches around the wooden spoon.

“Is he nice?” She asks quietly.

Alec remembers Maryse showing up at the station, face thunderous as she yelled at Hodge in front of the entire precinct. He remembers how she bandaged his cuts and made him soup, and he remembers how she kissed his forehead head and said, “I’m sorry, baby boy.”

Alec looks in the livingroom, Magnus and Izzy laughing at each something, and Magnus leans down to whisper something into Max’s ear.

“Yeah, Mom. He really is.”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> tarot meanings:  
> the lovers (attraction, love, beauty): alec's initial attraction to magnus  
> death reversed (inertia): alec had the ability to further his relationship with magnus at the club but didn't/was unable to  
> ten of wands (oppression): alec is burdened by how he didn't really talk to magnus about the club and stuff with max  
> six of cups (the past): hodge comes around and helps puts perspective on alec's relationship with magnus compared to his with hodge  
> the world reversed (permanence): alec and magnus had been dating for a month and are Meeting The Parents, so. in for the long haul.  
> ((of course these do not reflect anyone else's interpretations of the cards.)
> 
> find me on [tumblr](http://lesbianroberts.tumblr.com)


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